184 Birds in Sanskrit Literature and the name of a particular by killing whom Indra received the title of grea (ibid.). re also means' 'a child' and the 'grey or white colour'. The term rs may thus refer either to an Owlet (fir of wr) or a large white Owl just as means the all-white Swan (Art. 84-A). 21. Now it is quite possible that this powerful Owl capable of killing large birds and bold enough to attack man was the physical basis for the qe Demon killed by Indra just as the gigantic Adjutant Stork (6) is at the bottom of the mythological erg (Stork-Demon) killed by young Krsna. We also have the various types of Demons (g) named after large birds like , , , etc. in the Rgveda, 7.104.17. Finally the adnoun means both an Owl and a demon (para 2, Art. 48). If the above conjecture has a certain amount of probability in it the name rets may well belong to the Snowy Owl. The epithet of 3 for Indra also may have something to do with his killing the 'Owl-demon', the पाक राक्षस, 1. भागवत, 10. 11.48 ff Cf. also पूतना in bird form in हरिवंश 2.6.22 and the two sons आदि and [बक (Black and White Ibis) of अन्धकदस्य in मत्स्यपुराण, 156, 11 f 1. Red-faced Malkoha 2. Sirkeer Cuckoo PLATE III 3. Hawk-Cuckoo 4. Blossomheaded Parakeet 5. Layard's Parakeet 8 6. Ceylon Lorikeet 7. Violet Cuckoo 10 8. Banded Bay Cuckoo 9. Small Cuckoo 10. Drongo Cuckoo
